Food
Mainly vegatable matter including seedheads of grass and weeds. Also earworms, insects and various crustaceans. Young eat principally insects both aquatic and terrestrial during the first 5 weeks after hatching.
Voice
Male, a deep, honking, 'zzonk', female, a higher, 'zeeik'. Often utter a duet in flight.
Paradise Shelduck (Tadorna variegata) [XC183057]
by nick talbot from Cheviot, Hurunui District, Canterbury, New Zealand (call)
Paradise Shelduck (Tadorna variegata) [XC600315]
by Daniel Lane from Marlborough District, Marlborough, New Zealand (call)
Nest
A depression in the ground, or in a hole in the ground on log, thickly lined with down and some adventitious debris. Nests in tree hollows usually below 3m above the ground.
Eggs (Guide)
5 - 15, usually 8 - 10; smooth, close grained white but becoing discolored; oval; 67 x 49 mm. Incubation: about 30 - 35 days; by female only.
Young
Precocial, nidifugous. Fledge in about 8 weeks.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
BirdLife International Species Factsheet